News
Corey Connelly
THE success of the inaugural Tobago carnival speaks for itself.
This was THA Tourism and Culture Secretary Tashia Burris’s response to Progressive Democratic Patriots’ political leader Watson Duke, who has described the October 28-30 festival as a failure.
Duke made the statement in a Facebook live video during his Mandate Monday forum.
Duke chastised the THA for hosting the event within the rainy season, saying the heavy rains had caused several events to bust. He also claimed that THA secretaries benefited most from the festival.
“They were the true winners. In spite of everything, who else got free tickets, free food, free fetes. They were the winners,” he said.
On the post-executive council media briefing on Thursday, Burris scoffed at Duke’s position, saying the feedback from visitors, up to now, has been excellent.
“I do know that there was a number of conversation within the space about how can we measure success, and I just need to quickly address – because I actually have been asked about it on a couple of occasion – in regards to the comments made by the leader of the PDP, Mr Watson Duke, relative to the carnival.
“I don’t have much to say about him except that success speaks its own language. For those who stood up on the airport and listened to the entire conversations about everybody who was leaving Tobago – no person had a nasty thing to say.
“Everybody was talking about how great an experience they’d, how epic an experience they’d, how they’re going to come back next yr with more people,” she said.
“This was not Tobagonians talking but individuals who visited the island. In order that we don’t must blow our own trumpets or fight to persuade anybody about what the worth of the thing was or the impact
“The thing speaks for itself and we are going to proceed to receive the reviews, good bad and indifferent and we are going to take the great for what they’re, we are going to take the bad for what they’re and improve on the experience, because definitely we’ve room to grow.”
Burris said the Tobago Carnival Committee will conduct its post mortem and present a report by the top of the month.
She added the shortcomings is not going to prevent the island from having a much bigger and higher festival next yr.
“I do know these items are fixable. I realize it is only a matter of getting more conversations and slightly higher logistical planning, but all in all, we had a wonderful first carnival. People felt the ritual, people felt the revelry, people felt the discharge.”
Burris urged Tobagonians to embrace the concept of getting a standalone carnival, “because if nothing was proved over the weekend, the weekend proved that we in Tobago can do it.”
